LG is hoping to capitalise on the launch of Multi Media Messaging in the UAE, with the release of its new camcorder mobile phone the G8000, and a range of affordable GSM mobile phones.

LG is hoping to capitalise on the launch of Multi Media Messaging in the UAE, with the release of its new camcorder mobile phone the G8000, and a range of affordable GSM mobile phones.

The G8000 is one of three high-end models released by the company, which also includes the G7030 and G7100. All are folder models offering a 65,000 colour LCD display screen and 40 polyphonic ring tones.

“This is the first folder type camcorder phone in the Middle East,” said PC Choi president of LG Electronics Gulf. “It can record up to 90 seconds of moving picture with sound and then store it in the memory.”

The phones are joined in the high-end by the G5400 MMS phone and in the lower end model the B1300—the only phone of the new releases to not come with MMS as standard. The addition of the five new handsets brings LG’s range to twelve, not bad for a company that holds third position in the market for mobile phones, with Nokia and Samsung, numbers one and two respectively.

“Some might say LG joined the party late, but we’ve taken on the competition and caused them to sit up and take notice,” remarked Choi.

“In the space of eighteen months, we’ve launched twelve GSM handsets and gone from modest sales in the latter half of 2002 to being well on course to meeting out sales target of three-million phones by the end of the year.”

So did Choi want to see LG capturing the market share from its competitors?

“I don’t want to say I’m taking market share from another company, we are going to introduce new features with our phones and hopefully build upon the demand that is already coming from the buying public.”

This would seem a rather relaxed strategy considering the dominance in the mobile phone market by certain manufacturers, so what is the LG master plan?

“The key is we have to provide our mobile phones with unique features, which give benefit to the customer. It should have ease of use for that customer, and ease of control otherwise they will just not buy it. LG will provide a very good product and only then can we communicate with customers by using newspapers, by using our dealership networks that is the main point.”

So for a company that would otherwise seem to have obtained its success covertly in the past year, can we expect to seem them making a louder noise in the market this year?

“This is one of the many reasons why we have created the digital center. We’re also inviting all the sales people here and training them. Giving them the information they need to know about our special features and the main selling points on our mobile phones. That is an integral part of sales and we’re working on this [education].”

LGs strategy doesn’t stop there though, as Choi explained it pays to be selective but when it comes to grabbing market share and attention LG is willing to stretch itself.

“There are several marketing tools to promote our mobiles. For us it’s a case of seeing which way of marketing is the most effective. So we will select the best marketing tools and then go with them. These days we’re doing everything.”